The Carrot Sticks - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

• Create Interdisciplinary “Building Assessment” Green Teams, and a Standard Assessment Model
• Make “going green” cool/fashionable
• Smart Refrigeration System (SRS)
• The Rensselaericle

• Focus: assessing the performance and use of a building, via more holistic approach
• Team conducts multi-faceted analysis
• Develop a Standard Assessment Model
• Apply for grant (Stimulus Package, NSF, NYSERDA etc.) Specific to bio-limaticassessment and retrofitting of older buildings
• Impact
• Environment: Project dependent thus potential impact is large
• Economic: Project dependent
• Culture: Train and grow awareness among group and building occupants
• Pay-Back
• Dependent on extent and type of retrofit identified
• Feedback

• Departs from piece-meal, ‘quick-fix’, heavy-handed approaches to building renovation (e.g., replace all windows, replace all light bulbs, replace all plumbing fixtures)
• Examines the interplay of multiple additional factors and data

• Bioclimatic analysis: energy use/performance of building systems
• How much do existing systems take into account the external environment? (wait for SRS)
• Account for:
• Solar energy presence
• Wind flows
• Temperature swings (diurnal, seasonal, etc.)
• Occupancy flows (uses of the building during the course of the day; uses in different seasons; changes in use in past decades)

• Publicize/promote outstanding sustainable products
• Showcase/advertise sustainable behaviors/practices
• Impact:
• Culture: Foster positive attitudes towards the environmental implications of social behaviors
• Economic: Minimal…advertising. Word of mouth, action
• Environment: Once the ball gets rolling….
• Who will implement?
• Admin., IWSTF, SSTF, and everyone
• Feedback…

• President Jackson is ‘far and away’ the most influential voice on campus
• Only person whose decisions/leadership automatically gets results
• In consultation with Dr. Jackson, develop strategies for driving a sustainability culture
• Inspiration: a slogan with the impact of “Yes We Can!”
• Aspiration : set clear goals, with metrics and monitoring
• Communication: continue the SSTF’s model of collaborative knowledge-building, networking and idea-mining
• Motivation: publicize achievements to create the desire for others to emulate success

• Example: Campus retailers or organizations (e.g., Student Senate) offer subsidies to clubs or teams who buy sustainable products and materials and use sustainable practices/processes
• Example: request “sustainable product reviews” from Statler & Waldorf and/or The Poly

• Example: use the central sustainability information website as an advertising venue
• “Top Ten Sustainable Products”
• “Product of the Week”
• Example: provide display area (showcase or central sustainability area)

• USB-connected energy counter/hibernator for computers
• Instantly hibernates computer at near-zero energy consumption
• Instantly re-awakens at “wherever you left off”
• First screen shows money saved, energy saved
• Rensselaer logo printed on the button
• Purchase at reduced rate through Voorhees Computer Center
• Add to computing package sold to incoming students
• Could use coupon to be redeemed at the VCC
• Sell to faculty and staff
• Use fliers and coupons to advertise
• Provide free for a limited time
• Can also purchase additional buttons
• Advanced use: develop additional software to track and display the savings by class, by school, etc.

Product currently available at: www.buzline.com

• Awards for best sustainability courses
• Awards for best sustainability research
• Showcase innovative technologies
• Recognition of best practices (emphasizing ‘operations’ at Rensselaer)
• Could incorporate speaker or presentations on innovative technologies

• Group focused on creating art made of recycled material.
• Intended to be displayed in public spaces.
• Would provide venue for creative students
• Easy to set up due to pre-existing environmental awareness clubs.

• Select several intramural sports teams to represent a sustainability theme.
• Provide free themed t-shirts, water bottles, etc.
• Consciousness raising.
• Analogous to Vasudha.

• Eco-Refrigerator integrated into building wall to cool with outside air in winter
• Reduce energy consumption
• Reduce the use of freon
• Use indoor and outdoor thermostat to control switching of cooling system
• Discharge off-heat to outside the building in summer (to reduce air-conditioning costs)
• Discharge to inside the building in winter

• The “Rensselaericle”: transforming the American auto industry
• Goal: to address the entire life cycle of transportation carbon emissions
• By creating a new, low-emissions (electric vehicle), but ALSO
• By doing away with “consumable” or “throw-away” cars and trucks
• Underlying problem: U.S. metropolitan models are decentralized; therefore the European approach to urban public transportation is cost-inhibitive for most U.S. locations
• Americans love “individual” freedom: they are addicted to “a car for every person”
• Also addicted to consumerism – always wanting “the latest style”
• Result: a new car every year or two (or five)
• Greatest carbon emission is not gas mileage, but auto manufacturing/embodied energy

Rensselaericle

• Solution: create a modular car, with a “core to last a lifetime” (20-30 year life)
• Base model: galvanized metal, slate gray, simple shape
• Simple, durable interior design
• Independent electric motors at every wheel (regenerative breaking)
• Central ‘power-box’ where electricity is generated
• Add-ons: exterior body panels (e.g., make it a Cadillac, Ferrari, or Buick)
• Similar ‘upgrades’ for interior
• All using interchangeable parts
• Power source: as new technology (e.g., upgraded batteries, fuel cell, LNG) come on the market, the owner changes the power source, NOT the car
• Result: satisfies consumer desire for a “new car” with a fraction of the manufacturing costs – in terms of both economics and carbon emissions
• Used parts can be exchanged, re-used
• “Core” could also be expanded (e.g., from 2-seat to 4-seat module) by unbolting and inserting an add-on section
• Basic “core/skeleton” remains unchanged
• Note: could devastate the auto industry, which is based economically on frequent, wasteful replacement with a new model
• Current timing – with the auto industry already undergoing major overhaul – is ideal

Rensselaericle

• Impact
• Environmental: Greatest carbon emissions reduction possible
• Economic: Flip economics of auto industry
• Culture: Dispose of throw away mentality…
• Who will implement?